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Thursday, April 13, 2017

Baby Doll

"I hadn't been ruined by the world yet. I was pure. Untouched....And I was all his. A girl who would never say no. I was the girl who obeyed his every request. I was his perfect, obedient baby doll."

Lily Riser and her identical twin sister, Abby, are inseparable. Even when they argue, which is quite often, they always make up. Until the day Lily doesn't come home from school. Abducted and held captive for eight years, Lily finally manages to escape her kidnapper and return home. Only she's not the same. She has a six-year-old daughter named Sky now; she also has scars and memories no young woman should have. But she's home with her mother. And with Abby.... Only they're not the same either.

Hollie Overton's Baby Doll has a lot of similarities to Emma Donoghue's Room, but the twin connection between Lily and Abby puts a unique spin on an otherwise familiar premise. The narration alternates between Lily, Abby, their mother, and Lily's abductor, but I actually didn't mind the alternating view points. In fact, the shorter chapters help keep the story moving at a pretty fast pace. Lily was my favorite character, and the majority of this book is her story. But how her abduction affected her twin sister adds an interesting layer. Some of Overton's choices at the end bugged me a little bit, but not enough to ruin the rest of the book. Overall, I enjoyed this psychological suspense novel; it's compelling without being dark or graphic, and it focuses on the characters and their efforts to keep moving forward with their lives rather than on what Lily endured at the hands of her captor, which I appreciated. I hope Overton writes many more.

It took me years to get up the courage to read Room. Thanks for pointing out that the books' emphasis is more on moving forward than what happened in the past. That is helpful to me in deciding whether or not to try something.

Yeah, when a book is too graphic and dark I'd rather not read it myself; but while Overton hints at what happened to Lily, she never goes into great detail. So I think you'd be safe giving this one a read if the plot and characters interest you. This one won't give you nightmares.

I have such a hard time with books like this, even when they aren't graphic. There's something about the girl-or-woman-abducted-and-held-captive-for-years scenario that I find really disturbing. Well, obviously, it IS disturbing and should be -- but what I mean is, I usually find it too uncomfortable to read about. Which means, I guess, that I miss out on some very good books.